Step Past the Warning Sign
by entwinedloop
Summary: Canon divergent. Post Beth and Rio ending up in a hotel room. One shot.


His lips are tasting hers and the balls of her fingers are caressing his face and she's OK with not letting him go quite yet. He even pulls up and puts distance between them and she lifts her face, chasing his lips, and he gives in and she doesn't even relish it because she's too busy enjoying kissing him just a little bit longer.

She's not used to the silence when her days are filled with her kids, conversations, and business. Even when she's driving and choosing not to turn on the news or the music her thoughts are taken up with what she needs to do next, making sure she doesn't forget anything. Having her senses filled only with Rio, her, and the moment means that life is put on hold and she welcomes the pause.

Finally they let each other go and he falls next to her. They're both still catching their breathes and she closes her eyes to rest just a little longer.

They'd been at a fancy business affair earlier that night, which was unusual enough. Business usually involved the opposite but Rio had recently flipped his game and Beth had been able to find a window to get her and the women involved. Ruby and Annie had left the upscale bar, not before asking if she was OK, and she laughed at the question, as if she needed watching over.

It's happened before. Only twice, though each time she'd gone in resolutely telling herself it'll just be that one time. She pulls up her blanket to her chest and the bed creaks a little. She glances at Rio who's who's gotten up and she quickly turns away, shyness taking over. She fights the temptation to close her eyes again and glances around the bed, then the carpet for her skirt and her shirt when she feels the bed weighted down again. His eyes are focused at the ceiling. Her shirt is crumpled on the carpet not too far but she lies back don't without making her way to reach it. Neither of them speak.

That wasn't different than either of the last two times, her leaving the bathroom the first time with no words shared between them. The next few days she avoided texting him if she didn't have to and ignored as best she could what happened even a few days later when he sat with her, Ruby, and Annie, when he was giving her lip and she was dishing it back.

They'd even ended up in bed together before. His bed, no less. She'd broken into his place, determined to get answers when he'd ignored her, and the air was thick with their history, with what had happened between them that neither had addressed. She'd been quick to leave after, before giving him a chance to say anything at all. This time it was a hotel room and nearly as unplanned. Rio and her had managed to leave the bar together, innocently as if by accident. This time she was the one who wordlessly took his hand a moment before they had the chance to say goodbye and said that they had one more stop to make. He followed her in his car and here they were.

She stretched her legs. She wouldn't mind shutting her eyes and stick to this break, sleep a little. It had been a long week, the kids were surely tucked in (she'd checked her phone as Rio and her had left the bar). She owes her husband no explanations. In fact if she'd set her alarm early enough she could get back in time for the kids' morning routine… Her eyelids grow a little heavier and Rio yawned beside her.

What was she doing?! Her hand waved an errant hair strand from her eyes. She wasn't staying here. Chalk it up to a moment's temptation and why hasn't he moved at all? If he'd be kind enough to leave she could make excuses to herself and spend the night here. But he makes no movement, and neither does she. Resigned, she pulls herself sideways on the bed to the edge, away from him. She's certainly not going to ask him to leave and she's more certainly not spending the night like this. It'd be a short walk to her car and no one would by up by now back home. She really wouldn't mind catching up on sleep but it'd only be a short ride away from her bedroom.

She slides away while keeping her blanket modestly over her upper body, her sights on the bright crumpled shirt just outside her reach, when she feels her body pulled back, no, yanked back across the soft sheets with a loud swish, a strong arm at her waist. In seconds her back's against a warm, hard, lean body who's huffing behind her either in annoyance or satisfaction. Maybe it's a little both.

"What are you doing?!" She spits out.

"Going to sleep."

"Where?"

"The moon," He says into her hair.

He nudges a little as he rubs his face into the back of her head as he settles behind her. It brings up the image of the stray cat her sister had adopted for a while when they were kids. How Beth would find the cat nestled with Annie when she'd wake her up for school. On the days Annie would stay with a friend she'd be lying in bed and feel a soft step on the bed and a purr in the darkness as the cat rubbed itself against her as it settled down for the night.

Except now it's a grown man behind her. Beth's body has stiffened against Rio's in defiance but he doesn't move to let her go. Her patience is strained and she tries pushes herself away from his grasp, reaching for the arm on her stomach as she feels his arms tighten around her waist.

"I need to-"

"Go to sleep."

Annoyed she turns her face back, nearly hitting him in the face since he has only moved by an inch. She finds their noses almost touching. "I need to use the restroom." She clarifies.

"Why you whispering?" His eyes dance on her face.

She wants to argue but he's right. Instead of responding she picks up her squirming and he laughs softly before loosening his grasp just a little but offering no more than that. She has halfway turned to him and her hand is on his chest. Both their eyes glance down at her hand.

"I'll come back," she offers quickly.

He arches his eyebrows. He hadn't asked her, she realizes, and his response makes her doubt that he wants her to, even though he had just been holding her to him, was still doing it. But his hands leave her waist and she turns her face and scooches down the bed. She steps away from the sheltering blanket and quickly scans the room for her a few pieces of clothing to cover herself with.

"Nothing I ain't seen," he notes behind her but she's already gotten herself what she needs to feel if a little more comfortable, a semblance of control back.

As she steps in the bathroom and shuts out her eyes from the bright light she bemoans to herself that she'd think about hopping through the window if there was one, though even if there was she was at too high a floor to risk it. She quickly catches herself and shakes the initial ridiculous thought away. She'd just need to leave, just like she'd done the other two times. It actually was him who said something about needing to leave the second time. She'd tried to forget it because she had stopped him before he could keep going, but she didn't need to hear the rest. Of course it made sense for her to leave. Much easier than staying back and having to deal with the inevitable aftermath tomorrow morning. Like he wanted to be part of that either.

After a few minutes of solitude she steps out of the restroom. Having turned off the light her eyes take a moment to adjust before Rio's form sharpens into view. He's on his back and his eyes are closed. She climbs into bed beside him and mimics his position. Would he actually mind if she left? Of course he wouldn't. Her hands itch, just a little, to reach out to him or at least move a little closer. She could give in right? She turns her head to her left and her body follows as she faces the wall.

She pulls the blanket to her chest as her body relaxes in softness of the bed and the peaceful darkness of the room. Surely this wasn't why you stayed here for, a part of her calls her. Reach out to him, what's there to lose? He asked you to stay.

But that's the opposite of what she needed, she knows. This wasn't any different than the other two times. Distraction. Celebrating a success this time. It'd be fine until nex- there's not going to be a next time. Nothing's changed. He's sleeping. She'd just text him tomorrow that she needed to get home. She was needed. She'd probably not even need to text him.

Only after she feels an arm snake itself around her stomach and grab her a second time that night that she hears the sigh that came first. Caught by surprise her legs drag and straighten in front of her and she needs to pull them back under her. She wants to be annoyed but she's not sure she can summon the irritation she wants to feel. Probably the exhaustion.

"Stubborn woman," Rio murmurs behind her and she decides to let it go despite herself. His arm slips under her shirt and rests on her skin.

He feels sturdy and warm, just like before, and a little too comfortable.

"Do you think you could-" She can't quite finish her sentence.

"What?"

"Think you could put something on?" She turns her head back, and she means to speak more gently than it comes out.

He doesn't respond right away, thinking it over before he gets up, and she turns her face quickly, giving him privacy that he didn't ask for.

A few moments later he returns and she barely stands the relief that she feels when he takes the exact same position behind her as he had the last two times. It's not that she needs him, just that she'd gotten used to how he felt. Though she knows better than that.

"Better?"

"Much," she says, easily managing a snippy tone though she is grateful, because this still doesn't feel like something that makes sense for them, like something she knows how to fit into. It only confuses her that he doesn't seem to think it's confusing at all, as he slides his leg between hers, knotting his calf under hers, and she doesn't think he could wrap himself any tighter around her. His arm is possessively holding her close and she tentatively considers it, before she goes ahead and places her hand on his, her heart thumping quickly in her chest. She chastises herself at her response.

"I'm hot," Rio whines behind her, and she quickly moves her hand away, as if snapping back her foot after stepping on sweltering concrete on the way to the cool pool waters.

Rio's arm stretches a little on her stomach and then shakes once. He shakes his arm again a few seconds later. Beth ignores it, thinking he's shaking something off, before he repeats it a fourth time with a tsk.

"What are you doing?" He just returns her question with a stare, twitching his arm again. Instinctively she places her hand on it, wanting him to stop, and pushes down a little, bracing herself for him to do it again. He doesn't, his eyes still on her face, and she realizes what he had wanted and she turns her face away from him.

"You said you were hot," she pushes her free leg out and tries to to untangle herself, offering to help him. He can't possibly be comfortable like this, but Rio tugs at her other leg with his calf, and she grunts in response.

"Keep moving like that and I won't need sleep." He gives her a biting kiss on her shoulder.

"Stop it," she says but she's sure he hears the smile in her face.

"It's the blankets," he pushes his leg out against the blankets before snaking it back to where it was.

"I need it." He was the one who wanted to – cuddle. It wasn't her fault he was suffering a little in response.

Rio kicks the blanket lower and the truth is he's right. He's turning out to make himself her blanket for her and the thought scares her a little. She's not used to not having her blanket over her and besides she feels vulnerable enough to not be in a fully clothed state.

She wants to tell him he doesn't have to hold her like this, like she's going to make a run for it, when she'd suspect that he'd be as likely to do that, but her hand's already migrated to his, to draw lines on the back of it, on his fingers, and he straightens them in response and tugs at her tighter so for a moment she can't quite breathe.

The blanket is tugged to her front with one hand, her other on his arm, having been formally warned not to move it. He couldn't possibly stay in this position, she thinks, as she feels sleep start to envelope her and him. It doesn't matter. This wasn't going to become a habit or anything. It's just for tonight. Her hand's on his and she tries to pick it up, feeling her waist squeezed in response.

"Will you-?"

He's not happy about it but he lets her pick up his hand and she places it against her lips and kisses his palm. His body freezes then slacks just a little and her stomach fills with warmth in response.

"Better?" He mimics his earlier question as she brings his arm back to her stomach and she rests her hand on his. Like before his tone is annoyed but something's sneaked into it that he can't quite shake off. He squeezes her tightly one more time.

This time it bothers her a little less how she can't quite hide the smile from her voice. "Much."

* * *

A/N

So I could either take this scene and build a whole fic around it (which I wouldn't put past myself) but I'm not feeling inspired to write a whole plot at this point. I reserve the right to use this scene again if a plot presents itself to me one day because I can. Ha.

I'm not quite sure where I'm fitting this in the timeline of the show. All things considered I think it'd fit more tonally with end of season 1 if it went long enough (before the confrontation between Beth, Rio, and Dean). Definitely canon divergent.


End file.
